


Sunlight & Shadow (In Your Eyes)

by mihrsuri



Category: The Tudors (TV)
Genre: Female Character of Color, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, OT3, Racism, Sibling Love, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 13:43:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20310466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mihrsuri/pseuds/mihrsuri
Summary: Various tumblr prompt fills mini fics set in my Tudors OT3 verse.





	Sunlight & Shadow (In Your Eyes)

Mary is his pearl, Elizabeth his jewel and Margaret his gem (though she had proclaimed herself a knight and Henry cannot find it in his heart to tell her otherwise) but Pippa is his little flower. She is so small still and so quiet that sometimes he calls her his little fairy princess, as though she cannot be seen unless you stand very still.

He and Anne and Tom had worried for Meg. Worried that the world would dim her, would make her less than she is but it has not happened. Their Meg is fierce and brave and as good as any of her brothers at archery - Will had taught her to use a sword and Henry is sure that if she were allowed to joust she would shine there as well.

He looks at Bess and sees a girl who could indeed preside over empires and he is so proud of her it hurts his heart to watch her brightness, the way she understands the world around her.

Mary. Mary is his oldest, his pearl, the child he had hardly dared believe would live and yet she had lived. He is glad now, that things between them have settled, that he has said he is sorry for what happened when he had thought her mother had influenced her against him.

-

He has never understood, but Thomas Cromwell accepts it because he cannot turn down the gift he has been given - he simply does not, cannot see in his heart why his King and Queen, his Henry & Anne have bestowed such love on him.

But he would never, could never let them feel as though they have done any wrong for they have not - it is Norwich who speaks in his ear (gutter rat, a pretty little street brat who seeks to ape his betters - but remember it can never be. You are grasping, a blacksmiths whelp - there is nothing you can give but to warm a bed) in his mind. Sometimes he feels he will be found out and of course, of course they will throw him away because what was he thinking, to presume otherwise.

It echoes in his mind, despite himself. Despite everything as Henry holds him in his arms and Anne wraps herself around them both.

-

“I hear that Cromwell has ambitions to marry into the royal family - that he wants the Princess for himself” 

“That is what happens when you give a commoner a place above their station - I hope the King finally sees his true nature - you cannot make a blacksmiths son a Duke, no matter how gilded the trappings are.” 

Mary has to bite her lip to keep from bursting into hysterical laughter which would alert her ladies in waiting that she was not still asleep after all and she had no desire to explain why she would find their words so amusing. Of course her second emotion is relief - if there are rumours that Cromwell wishes to marry her then no one has seen the true situation. On the other hand she feels an absurd urge to correct the ladies and the image of telling them that they have the wrong Tudor makes her laugh into her pillow. 

-

Having found so much happiness in her own marriage, Mary had particularly wished it would be so for her brothers and sisters who she loved so very much, but of all of them she had perhaps worried about Tommy the most or at least, to more of a degree than the others. He was the Prince of Wales after all and he would need a wife who would be able to stand beside him. 

Mary knew her mother had hoped for a Spanish Infanta for him and Mary herself had thought it would be no bad thing at. When the betrothal to an Ottoman Princess is announced there is..uneasiness - “though she is to convert, at least” her mother had said and her other mother had smiled and said that Mihrimah and Tommy had started writing to each other. 

She meets Mihrimah who is to be Queen Margaery and she can see steel in this young princess - steel Tommy will need for he has a gentle heart. But she worries, as an older sister does - worries that Tommy will be happy. 

So she watches as Mihrimah charms the court, charms her new family - carefully combining Ottoman fashions with English fabrics and styles - making sure to speak perfect English. She is every inch the perfect Princess of Wales but it is hard to know how she feels about Tommy, at least on the surface. 

Mary can see that she loves her new family - Pippa and Ned adore her and even George is impressed, which is not an easy thing but Mary does not feel she knows her, not really. 

It is when Mihrimah is heavy with her first child that Mary finds her crying, in a moment when everyone has left her alone (Tommy has danced attendance on her as much as she wished but has gone to a privy council meeting). She almost does not intrude but the younger woman looks so miserable Mary’s heart goes out to her and she cannot not slip her arms around her, just as she does to her siblings and her own children when they are sad.

“It is nothing, truly” Mihrimah says when Mary asks after her. “Only….I am so tired and heavy and the courtiers have been gossiping and it should not bother me but…”

She bursts into tears again.

“They whisper about all I am not, about my blood”

-

He wakes and for a moment it is as though this is the dream - he is warm for one and the room he is in is warm but of course it is not. He is in a great bed with a feather mattress and the finest linen sheets, with curtains made of cloth of gold and red velvet embroidered with flowers and birds, blankets and quilts edged with ermine and he is the arms of his loves and his monarchs. No wonder that Thomas Cromwell thinks he is dreaming still, betimes as he looks out the window as snow falls and knows that he will not be cold or hungry - that he is loved.


End file.
